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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Exploring the Climatic Impact of Bi-Modal Dust Particle Size Distributions During the MY34/2018 Global Dust Storm with the NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model.

We have implemented a bi-modal dust lifting scheme in the NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model (GCM) and investigated the climatic impact on the MY34/2018 Global Dust Storm (GDS). We found that the climate is measurably responsive to the inclusion of a second, smaller dust mode. Dust tends to be lifted through a deeper column in the atmosphere, which is reflected in the climate as changes to atmospheric temperature, tide amplitudes, and surface temperatures. Adding a modest fraction of a smaller dust mode improves simulations during the GDS compared to Curiosity semi-diurnal tide observations as well as Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) T15 brightness temperatures

R A Urata↗
NASA NTRS1978

Uniform distribution of BeO particles in Be casting produced in rocket free fall

An experiment at zero-g aboard a NASA sounding rocket was conducted to evaluate the distribution of BeO particles in a Be casting. A distinction is drawn between the downward settling of particles in a quiescent melt, and the velocity gradient collisions of particles in a melt agitated by electromagnetic stirring. A similar experiment was conducted on earth using the same melting and solidification of a 0.922 cm spheroid of HIP-50 as was carried out in space; the only difference arising from the effect of gravity. Under zero-g conditions, the time needed for agglomeration was lengthened considerably, but the result was a casting of more uniform particle distribution.

Wouch, G.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Evolution of ion cyclotron instability in the plasma convection system of the magnetosphere

In the present paper, Liouville's theorem is used in combination with approximate, but extremely accurate, expressions which reflect the invariance of the magnetic moment and the longitudinal invariant to determine analytically the evolution of an adiabatically convecting energetic particle distribution. Features of the convecting distribution, reproduced by this model, include positive pitch angle anisotropy, regions in velocity space where the nonmonotonic perpendicular energy distribution is greater than zero, and the energy dependence of the degree of particle injection. The energy dependence of the injection yields upper and lower cutoffs to the distribution within the plasmasphere, and only an upper cutoff outside. This approach is used to study the evolution of ion cyclotron waves in a convecting particle distribution.

Kaye, S. M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Spatial coupling of gyrokinetic simulations, a generalized scheme based on first-principles

In this paper, we present a scheme that spatially couples two gyrokinetic codes using first-principles. Coupled equations are presented and a necessary and sufficient condition for ensuring accuracy is derived. This new scheme couples both the field and the particle distribution function. The coupling of the distribution function is only performed once every few time-steps, using a five-dimensional (5D) grid to communicate the distribution function between the two codes. This 5D grid interface enables the coupling of different types of codes and models, such as particle and continuum codes, or delta-f and total-f models. Transferring information from the 5D grid to the marker particle weights is achieved using a new resampling technique. Demonstration of the coupling scheme is shown using two XGC gyrokinetic simulations for both the core and edge. We also apply the coupling scheme to two continuum simulations for a one-dimensional advection–diffusion problem.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

General relativistic MHD simulations of non-thermal flaring in Sagittarius A*

Sgr A* exhibits regular variability in its multiwavelength emission, including daily X-ray flares and roughly continuous near-infrared (NIR) flickering. The origin of this variability is still ambiguous since both inverse Compton and synchrotron emission are possible radiative mechanisms. The underlying particle distributions are also not well constrained, particularly the non-thermal contribution. In this work, we employ the GPU-accelerated general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics code H-AMR to perform a study of flare flux distributions, including the effect of particle acceleration for the first time in high-resolution 3D simulations of Sgr A*. For the particle acceleration, we use the general relativistic ray-tracing code bhoss to perform the radiative transfer, assuming a hybrid thermal+non-thermal electron energy distribution. We extract ~60 h light curves in the sub-millimetre, NIR and X-ray wavebands, and compare the power spectra and the cumulative flux distributions of the light curves to statistical descriptions for Sgr A* flares. Our results indicate that non-thermal populations of electrons arising from turbulence-driven reconnection in weakly magnetized accretion flows lead to moderate NIR and X-ray flares and reasonably describe the X-ray flux distribution while fulfilling multiwavelength flux constraints. These models exhibit high rms per cent amplitudes, $\gtrsim 150{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ both in the NIR and the X-rays, with changes in the accretion rate driving the 230 GHz flux variability, in agreement with Sgr A* observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantifying structural errors in cloud condensation nuclei activity from reduced representation of aerosol size distributions

Aerosol effects on clouds and radiation are the dominant contribution to uncertainty in radiative forcing relative to the pre-industrial atmosphere. While previous studies have assessed the impact of parametric uncertainty on modeled forcing, structural errors from the numerical representation of particle distributions have not been well quantified. Here we present a framework for quantifying error in aerosol size distributions and cloud condensation nuclei activity, which we apply to the widely used 4-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4). Box model predictions from the MAM4 are evaluated against the Particle Monte Carlo Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (PartMC-MOSAIC), a benchmark model that tracks the evolution of individual particles. We show that size distributions simulated by MAM4 diverge from those simulated by PartMC-MOSAIC after only a few hours of aging by condensation and coagulation in polluted conditions, which leads to large errors in modeled cloud condensation nuclei concentrations. We find that differences between MAM4 and PartMC-MOSAIC are largest under polluted conditions, where the size distribution evolves rapidly though aging by condensation of semi-volatile substances and coagulation among particles. These findings suggest that structural error in modeled aerosol properties contributes to the large inter-model variability in aerosol radiative forcing.

Fierce, Laura M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

On the transport and acceleration of solar flare particles in a coronal loop

The turbulent environment of a flaring solar coronal loop directly affects the population of particles to be accelerated or already accelerated. Under the assumption of a uniform turbulent MHD wave field within the loop, the behavior of a particle distribution as it interacts with the turbulence is discussed, including particle precipitation to the footpoints of the loop and the evolution of the energy distribution as the particles undergo second-order stochastic acceleration. Two cases are discussed in detail: (1) particles spatially diffusing within the loop and precipitating with minimal acceleration in the short time scale of an impulsive event and (2) particles diffusing in both real and momentum space in a long duration event. Collisional losses due to ambient electrons are included. The gamma-ray flare of June 3, 1982 is modeled, and good agreement is obtained between predicted and observed time profiles if the loop length is 100,000 km with an intrinsic spatial diffusion time of 100-450 s. It follows that the production of high-energy neutrons and pi mesons extends over a time scale of 1000 s as observed.

Ryan, James M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Environment definition, small particles, diameter less than or equal to 1 MM

The collection of particles of diameters one millimeter and less far outnumbers the larger particle distribution in orbit. These small particles cannot be tracked from ground based radar as can the larger debris, therefore, there is greater uncertainty in their properties. The population is growing from contributions due to collisions of larger debris, explosions, and aluminum oxide particles from solid rocket motors. The solid rocket motor contribution is the prominent growth parameter, and the input from Space Shuttle deployed upper stages will range between 50,000 and 100,000 pounds per year. The environment is important because of the different design problems that will be posed to the engineer and scientist. The emphasis shifts from catastrophe deign, probability versus exposure time, and tracking-avoidance, to a continuous degradation problem.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1986

Neutron and antineutron production in accretion onto compact objects

Nuclear reactions in the hot accretion plasma surrounding a collapsed star are a source of neutrons, primarily through spallation and pion-producing reactions, and antineutrons, principally through the reaction p+p yields p+p+n+anti-n. We calculate spectra of neutrons and antineutrons produced by a variety of nonthermal energetic particle distributions in which the target particles are either at rest or in motion. If only neutral particles are free to escape the interaction site, a component of the proton and antiproton fluxes in the cosmic radiation results from the neutrons and antineutrons which leave the accretion plasma and subsequently decay in the interstellar medium. This additional antiproton component could account for the enhanced flux of antiprotons in the cosmic radiation, compared to values expected from the standard leaky-box model of cosmic-ray propagation and confinement. Moreover, the low-energy antiproton flux measured by Buffington et al. (1981) could result from target-particle motion in the accretion plasma. This model for the origin of antiprotons predicts a narrow 2.223 MeV line which could be observable.

Dermer, C. D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Neutron and antineutron production in accretion onto compact objects

Nuclear reactions in the hot accretion plasma surrounding a collapsed star are a source of neutrons, primarily through spallation and pion-producing reactions, and antineutrons, principally through the reaction p+p yields p+p+n+anti-n. We calculate spectra of neutrons and antineutrons produced by a variety of nonthermal energetic particle distributions in which the target particles are either at rest or in motion. If only neutral particles are free to escape the interaction site, a component of the proton and antiproton fluxes in the cosmic radiation results from the neutrons and antineutrons which leave the accretion plasma and subsequently decay in the interstellar medium. This additional antiproton component could account for the enhanced flux of antiprotons in the cosmic radiation, compared to values expected from the standard leaky-box model of cosmic-ray propagation and confinement. Moreover, the low-energy antiproton flux measured by Buffington et al. (1981) could result from target-particle motion in the accretion plasma. This model for the origin of antiprotons predicts a narrow 2.223 MeV line which could be observable.

Dermer, Charles D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A computationally efficient model for turbulent droplet dispersion in spray combustion

A novel model for turbulent droplet dispersion is formulated having significantly improved computational efficiency in comparison to the conventional point source stochastic sampling methodology. In the proposed model, a computational parcel representing a group of physical particles is considered to have a normal (Gaussian) probability density function (PDF) in three-dimensional space. The mean of each PDF is determined by Lagrangian tracking of each computational parcel, either deterministically or stochastically. The variance is represented by a turbulence-induced mean squared dispersion which is based on statistical inferences from the linearized direct modeling formulation for particle/eddy interactions. Convolution of the computational parcel PDF's produces a single PDF for the physical particle distribution profile. The validity of the new model is established by comparison with the conventional stochastic sampling method, where in each parcel is represented by a delta function distribution, for non-evaporating particles injected into simple turbulent air flows.

Litchford, Ron J.↗
NASA NTRS1964

Micrometeorites

Micrometeorite trajectory, composition, mass distribution, particle flux, and structure of cosmic dust particles

MASS DISTRIBUTION↗